Business

Osinbajo, Others List Values For Business Success

Published

9 years ago

July 13, 2015

The Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has in Lagos told youths in Africa to imbibe the culture of integrity and discipline for the nation’s growth.
Osinbajo gave the advice while delivering a lecture entitled “Transforming Africa through Entrepreneurship’’.
He was speaking at the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme (TEEP) 2015 Boot Camp, organised by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) in Lagos on Saturday.
“The TEF deserves all the commendation and support for putting this programme together, which is, putting his money where his heart is.
“This is an avenue for African youths to come together to unite, learn and also network.
“Enterprise, commerce and society cannot survive without character, so the key word here is character and integrity, which also include respect for rule of law, prompt tax remissions, etc.
“It is a known fact that credit is the live wire of commerce and it behooves every entrepreneur to showcase integrity which reflects in the repayment of loans and keeping the promises of quality.
“TEF has shown that social entrepreneurship is a key aspect of growth and the economy cannot grow without it and government is willing to support the growth of the cause,” he said.
The vice-president urged the participants to imitate the examples laid by the foundation to support cause of national growth and development.
Also speaking, the Prime Minister of Benin Republic, Mr Lionel Zinsou, lauded TEF for initiating the boot camp to build a generation of young successful entrepreneurs across Africa.
Zinsou said, however, that electricity was a major infrastructure that was militating against the success of businesses in Africa.
He, therefore, urged entrepreneurs to look into businesses of providing renewable energy as an alternative means of providing electricity.
Zinzou also urged youths to embrace technology to grow their businesses, expressing his optimism in the growth of African nations through corporate and entrepreneurial growth.
The Governor of Kaduna State, Mr Nasir El-Rufai, in his address, implored government to truly show support for business by creating the enabling environment.
El-Rufai decried the state of insecurity in the country, saying that businesses cannot grow without adequate protection of lives and property, efficient law enforcement and basic infrastructure.
“Businesses need a functioning government because no matter how rich you are, you cannot build your own refinery, road network and so on.
“In Kaduna State, about 80 per cent of the youths are unemployed and it is the same all over the country.
“The government needs to work more on security, policy coherence and flexibility in key growth areas like entrepreneurship and job creation.
“In the light of this, permit me to say that President Buhari is planning to invest more on human capital development, especially in the area of education.
“As our own contribution, I will get a list of indigenes of Kaduna State, who may be willing to invest in the state, in order to offer our own support,” he said.
The Managing Director of Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, at panel discussion, assured beneficiaries of the seed capital adequate support and more loans from BoI.
He said that the bank had formed cluster loans for some sectors like fashion, agriculture and Nollywood, which the entrepreneurs could benefit from.
The Chairman of TEF, Mr Tony Elumelu, said the boot camp was an initiative to support youths across Africa with seed capital, networking and most importantly, the ethics of business.
“The major aspect that makes me tick is that we want to show African youths and the world that we can succeed, despite the harsh environment around here.
“Our main highlight was hammering on the main ingredients of succeeding in business which include hard work, discipline, resilience and knowing the rule of your business.
“Failure is part of business, that is why emotional and workplace intelligence are part of our training modules for the boot camp.
“After this exercise, there is also a formidable monitoring of the fund capital that would be given out and other forms of support would also be given.
The foundation, he said, lauded the present administration and its development partners for lending their voices of support for the cause of job creation through entrepreneurship.
“It is our duty to call them to order and demand the delivery of these promises by playing our part as reliable business owners looking to build empires that would outlive us,” Elumelu said.
The boot camp and training was organised for 1,000 youths out of the 20,000 applicants who applied from 51 countries in Africa.
According to the foundation, TEEP is a 10-year programme, where 1,000 entrepreneurs would be selected annually, trained and given seed capital of $5000 (about N1.2 million).
The foundation said that the top five sectors where applications for capital and support were received were in order of percentage, agriculture, education, commercial retail, ICT and healthcare.

Business

Fuel Scarcity: IPMAN threatens shutdown over bridging claims

Published

3 days ago

May 3, 2024

The Tide

The Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN) Depot Chairmen Forum, has exonerated its members from the current fuel scarcity in the country.

According to IPMAN, this is caused by its inability to source petroleum products.

The IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum also threatened to withdraw its services over non-payment of N200 billion bridging claims by the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) to its members, since 2022.

Alhaji Yahaya Alhassan, the Chairman, of the Forum said this while briefing newsmen in Abuja, yesterday.

Alhassan said the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd.) was the sole importer of the product, but the marketers could not source products from NNPC Ltd. deport, rather from the private depots at high rate.

“We cannot buy fuel from the private depots at N950 and transport the product from Lagos to the North and other parts of the country with N2 million and still sell it at N900 or N1, 000.

“It is expedient for us to state that we are more pained by the non-availability of petroleum products in the country, which has given rise to another round of untold hardship for Nigerians.

“Contrary to claims that IPMAN members are hoarding Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) known as fuel, we would like to categorically state that PMS scarcity is wholly triggered by inability to get fuel from NNPC and not IPMAN,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, the NNPC Ltd. Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Olufemi Soneye said the disruption was due to logistical issues which had since been resolved.

“We currently have an availability of products exceeding 1.5 billion litres, which can last for at least 30 days. Unfortunately, we experienced a three-day disruption in distribution due to logistical issues, which has since been resolved.

“However, as you know, overcoming such disruptions typically requires double the amount of time to return to normal operations.

“Some folks are taking advantage of this situation to maximise profits. Thankfully, product scarcity has been minimal lately, but these folks might be exploiting the situation for unwarranted gain,’’ Soneye said.

He however, said the lines would clear out soon.

On the non-payment of bridging claims, the IPMAN forum said it was distressed and depressed by the laidback attitude of the NMDPRA towards the survival its member’s businesses, arising from its refusal in paying the claims.

“It is with deep frustration that we have assembled here today as the IPMAN Depot Chairmen Forum. It is also disheartening to note that some of our members have completely shut down businesses and retrenched employees.

“As businessmen and women, our members acquired bank loans to keep their fuel retail outlets running on a daily basis across the nooks and crannies of Nigeria in order to serve the teeming population of Nigerians,’’ Alhassan said.

He recalled that Sen. Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State Petroleum Resources (Oil), at a stakeholders meeting in February mandated the NMDPRA management to clear the entire debt in 40 days.

“However, today, we have crossed the 40 days’ time lapse given to the NMDPRA to clear the debt, and it is shameful to state that only the paltry sum of N13 billion has been paid, ignoring minister’s directive.

“We are not happy with the indiscriminate increment in the issuance and renewal of Sales and Storage Licence, by the NMDPRA, and the subsequent delays in acquiring the licence, which our members are recently subjected to.

“We are also calling on President Bola Tinubu to look into this unwholesome figure which is highly detrimental to our business and reverse it forthwith, as it is bound to impact negatively on the masses.

“We are poised to take far reaching decisions that may cripple the supply and sales of petroleum products across Nigeria if our demands are not met within the shortest period of time.

“We are collectively prepared to withdraw our services, shut down every single outlet, and suspend lifting of products forthwith till our demands are fully met, and the consequences will be terrible.

“We call on our members to however remain resolute and law abiding, even as we draw close to the immediate ultimatum for our demands to be met by the NMDPRA,’’ the chairman said.

Reacting to the IPMAN’s claims, the Acting Head, Corporate Communications, NMDPRA, Seiyefa Osanebi said the bridging claims payment was ongoing.

“The bridging claims payment is always an ongoing process,” she said.

Maritime

Shippers’ Council Registers 160 Port Operators

Published

7 days ago

April 29, 2024

The Tide

The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) says it has registered 160 Port stakeholders into its Regulated Port Service Provider and Users platform since the initiative began in 2023.
Executive Secretary, NSC, Mr Pius Akutah, made the disclosure on the sideline of a sensitisation programme by the commission for port operators in Lagos, with the theme, “Regulated Port Service Provider and Users”.
Represented by the Director, Consumer Affairs, Chief Cajetan Agu, Akutah emphasised the significance of the programme for stakeholders.
He said the sensitisation programme was the second edition after its commencement during the last quarter of 2023.
The Secretary said the 160 registered port operators consist of agencies, terminal operators, shipping companies, individual port users as well as service providers.
“We invited the ports stakeholders for enlightening them on the processes for online registration of Regulated Port Service Provider and Users.
“We have demonstrated to them how to register and how to make payment and we were able to present before them the various categories of the registration.
“The rate of payment is also in the registration. The payment of each group depends on the operation. A shipper pays N30,000, terminal operators and shipping companies pay N300,000, truckers also pay N30,000, while some pay N50,000 and N100,000.
“The Council was able to intimate them on the benefits, because port users benefit more as we help to interface on reducing port charges from time to time”, Akutah said.
He said that there was a need to continue to work with port operators to stop delays and eliminate high costs to make the port efficient.
Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Stakeholders, Service, NSC, Mr Celestine Akujobi, said “the sensitisation exercise was important for the council to enable us bring all the port stakeholders together”.
According to him, this is to avoid challenges during the implementation of the council’s responsibilities.
“By the time we introduce sanctions on defaulters, no operators will complain that he or she is not aware of the registration.
“I’m happy with the turnout of this sensitisation. This shows that the operators are well informed of the statutory friction of the council as the port regulator.
“The final implementation will commence as soon as we discover that all the operators have keyed into the portal.
“We are engaging other ports across the country and we’re hopeful that before the last quater of 2024, the council will implement sanctions on defaulting operators”, Akujobi said.
Earlier, Vice Chairman, National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwards (NAGAFF), Dr Ifeanyi Emoh, said port challenges were enormous, adding that they originated from some of the government agencies.

Emoh urged the council to look into regulating other government agencies, so that there could be a window through which they can collect port charges collectively instead of indiscriminately.

By: Chinedu Wosu